[kictanet] Facts Regarding the African Union Commission (.Africa) application

[Alice Munyua]

*Facts Regarding the African Union Commission (.Africa) application *

**

1.The African Union Commission's (AUC) involvement in the dotAfrica 
(.Africa) Top Level Domain (TLD) process has been mandated by African 
Heads of State (OR Tambo Declaration) and African Minister's in charge 
of ICT (Abuja Declaration).

2.In fulfilling its mandate the AUC has, in accordance with an open and 
transparent Request for Proposal (RFP) process, officially endorsed 
UniForum SA t/a the ZA Central Registry (ZACR) to apply for and launch 
the dotAfrica (.Africa) TLD.

3.The AUC/ZACR, in accordance with the procedures and standards 
prescribed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers 
(ICANN), has officially lodged an application with ICANN for the 
delegation of the (.Africa), under reference number: 1-1243-89583. This 
application constitutes the official AUC endorsed application for the 
dotAfrica (.Africa) Top Level Domain. Further details of this official 
application is available 
at:http://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/applicationdetails/1184 


4.There is a competing private application, for a confusingly similar 
string, lodged by DotConnectAfrica Trust. The application for the 
dotdotAfrica (.dotAfrica) TLD string, under reference number 1-1165-42560.

5.The AUC/ZACR's application meets and exceeds, the minimum evaluation 
criteria set by ICANN for application of Geographic strings.

6.The AUC/ZACR's application, is correctly designated as a geographic 
application in accordance with the criteria and processes outlined in 
ICANN's Applicant Guidebook.

In particular:/Africa (and therefore .Africa) is a clearly designated 
geographic area as defined in the UNESCO "Composition of macro 
geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and 
selected economic and other groupings" list 
(http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm)./Therefore the 
designation of the official dotAfrica (.Africa) TLD string application, 
as a geographic name, is technically and procedurally correct. The 
"geographic evaluation process" that this application is subject to 
provides sufficient checks and balances for the protection of interests 
and rights of African governments and the pan-African community.//

7.The AUC endorsed dotAfrica (.Africa) application has been, and 
continues to be, a collaborative African initiative involving African 
governments, ICT stakeholders and the broader African community.

In this regard the stated mission and objective of the AUC's officially 
endorsed application is enshrined in its answers to question 18 of the 
Application, which is publicly available on the ICANN New gTLD website 
http://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus/applicationdetails/1184

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